Subject: Tessa Passey, a Chartered Surveyor from Chesham, Bucks. She is married with three young children.
Age range: 30– 40 years.
Interests: Training for a triathlon, the Outlaw Half Ironman, in Nottingham at the end of May. This involves a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. Tessa also likes knitting and the theatre.
RJL: Please explain how you came to be a Chartered Surveyor.
Tessa: I took a sports science degree, qualified as a teacher and then taught in Brazil. When I came back I couldn’t face teaching in the UK. At that time my father was selling his office. I saw some of the challenges of property work and thought that this was something I could do. I took an MA in property valuation and law.
RJL: What type of property work do you practice in?
Tessa: Commercial leasehold property which includes negotiating the terms of leases and rent reviews.
RJL: How did you become a Christian?
Tessa: My upbringing was nominally Christian. I attended church and Sunday school but hadn’t ‘twigged’ what it was all about. As a graduate trainee, one of my colleagues took me along to The Bible Talks (the evening service at Christ Church Mayfair). He had quite recently become a Christian. I went along to a Christianity Explored course and was converted.
RJL: Do you have any regrets about your choice of career or do you enjoy it?
Tessa: I enjoy being out and about, negotiating deals and the intellectual side of property work. No, I don’t have any regrets.
RJL: Have you kept in touch with your work colleague?
Tessa: I married him!
RJL: Does your job give you opportunities to witness?
Tessa: Christians in Property organises some excellent evangelistic events, which I am able to invite friends and colleagues to. In the office people are very focused on business.
RJL: Does your job ever conflict with your faith?
Tessa: I believe it is important to be transparently honest and truthful which can be difficult when deciding what information we should disclose in a dispute. I haven’t had pressure from clients to be less than honest.
RJL: As a woman how do you get on in the very ‘macho’ world of real estate?
Tessa: I am the only female fee-earner, the only part-time employee and the only Christian in my office, so I am rather set apart. The business is male dominated and the male way of doing things is different from the female way. There is pressure to do things the ‘male way’.
RJL: What is hard about being a Christian in your profession?
Tessa: Commercial Property is a ‘hard socialising’ profession with lots of evening events. As a mother of young children I cannot go to many of those but I do go to some. I have a friend in our church who has the same issues, so we support each other.
RJL: Are there any tensions between your job and your home / church life?
Tessa: Fortunately the only travel I do on business is within the UK. My husband is very helpful. He works locally and although his is a full-time job, his employer is flexible about his working hours so that he can, for example, collect the children from school when I am at work. I work 3.5 days a week and we have a child minder.
RJL: Are you in danger of being ‘polluted’ by the world in which you work?
Tessa: It is a pressured environment with money and materialism being a priority. There is a culture of personal reporting of work introduced and fees earned, which makes doing pro bono work (which I like to do) a problem. I am only looking for a fair reward without being money grabbing.
Quick Fire Questions:
• Asking questions or giving answers? / Giving answers
• Large church or small? / Small church
• Starting a project or finishing? / Starting
• Playing it safe or taking risks? / Safe
• E-book or real book? / Real
• Carpet or wood floor? / Carpet
